Bengaluru, Mar 27: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Friday formed a task force to monitor the spread of COVID-19 disease in the state and provide guidelines and suggestions to contain its proliferation in the state.
In a press release, the KPCC has stated that the 15 member committee will be headed by the senior Congress leader and former Health minister K R Rameshkumar also included two other former health ministers, Shivanand Patil and U T Khader as the members of the committee.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has rationalised by up to 30 per cent the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 for the academic year 2020-21 to reduce course load on students amid the COVID-19 crisis, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announced on Tuesday.
The curriculum has been rationalised while retaining the core elements, the Human Resource Development said.
Among the chapters dropped after the rationalisation exercise are lessons on democracy and diversity, demonetisation, nationalism, secularism, India's relations with its neighbours and growth of local governments in India, among others.
"Looking at the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and the world, CBSE was advised to revise the curriculum and reduce course load for the students of classes 9 to 12.
"To aid the decision, a few weeks back I also invited suggestions from all educationists on the reduction of syllabus for students and I am glad to share that we received more than 1.5K suggestions. Thank you, everyone, for the overwhelming response," Nishank tweeted.
"Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalise syllabus up to 30 per cent by retaining the core concepts," he added.
The Union minister said the changes made in the syllabi have been finalised by the respective course committees with the approval of the curriculum committee and the Governing Body of the Board.
"The heads of schools and teachers have been advised by the board to ensure that the topics that have been reduced are also explained to the students to the extent required to connect different topics. However, the reduced syllabus will not be part of the topics for internal assessment and year-end board examination.
"Alternative academic calendar and inputs from the NCERT on transacting the curriculum using different strategies shall also be part of the teaching pedagogy in the affiliated schools," a senior official of the HRD ministry said.
For classes 1 to 8, the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) has already notified an alternative calendar and learning outcomes.
According to the updated curriculum, among the chapters deleted from class 10 syllabus are-- democracy and diversity, gender, religion and caste, popular struggles and movement, challenges to democracy
For class 11, the deleted portions included chapters on federalism, citizenship, nationalism, secularism, growth of local governments in India.
Similarly, class 12 students will not be required to study chapters on India's relations with its neighbours, changing nature of India's economic development, social movements in India and demonetisation, among others.
Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the central government announced a nationwide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
A nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which came into effect the next day. While the government has eased several restrictions, schools and colleges continue to remain closed.
Bengaluru, Jan 19: Australia has conferred its highest civilian honour, the Order of Australia honour, on Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for her contribution towards advancing the country's relationship with India.
Australia's High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu invested Mazumdar-Shaw as an Honorary Member within the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division at a ceremony in Bengaluru on Friday, the Australian High Commission said in a statement.
An alumnus of Federation University Australia, Mazumdar-Shaw is the founder of Biocon, one of India's largest bio-pharmaceutical companies.
She contributes immensely to promoting women in STEM through the joint research programmes developed between Biocon and Deakin University, Australia, as part of her deep and long-standing commitment to gender equality, the statement said.
Mazumdar-Shaw - an Australian Global Alumni Ambassador - is also recognised for her sustained and significant contribution to industry academia collaboration between Australia and India, it said.
The ceremony was attended by representatives from Indian and Australian business, the diplomatic corps, and family, friends and peers of Mazumdar-Shaw, the statement said.
Speaking at the event, Sidhu said, "Dr Mazumdar-Shaw is a tireless champion of the commercial, educational, and people-to-people links between our two countries, and this award recognises her commitment to progressing the Australia-India partnership."
Honorary appointments in the Order of Australia are made to foreign nationals who have made an outstanding contribution to Australia or humanity at large.
Mazumdar-Shaw is the fourth Indian citizen to be awarded Australia's highest civilian honour.
This follows the conferment of superstar batsman Sachin Tendulkar in 2012, Former Attorney General of India Soli Jehangir Sorabjee in 2006, and Mother Teresa of Kolkata (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) in 1982.
Bengaluru, Apr 10: Renowned ophthalmologist and Narayana Nethralaya Chairman Dr K Bhujang Shetty today advised those wearing contact lenses to switch to eyeglasses as a preventive measure.
“Though the facial mask is mandatory as a preventive measure against the dreaded Coronavirus, not many know that the virus can also enter the body through eyes. Wearing glasses or spectacles reduces the spread of the virus,” Dr Bhujang Shetty said.
Although it is more likely that people may catch Coronavirus infections through mouth and nose, there are chances of the virus also entering through eyes. “In a day, humans tend to touch their face and eyes almost 20 times an hour knowingly or unknowingly. Users of contact lenses end up touching their eyes and face frequently, increasing the risk of infections. Therefore, it is advisable that they switch to eyeglasses until the situation improves”, according to a release here on Friday.
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